AXE captures the smell of freedom

Called Smell Ready this new campaign takes the usual humorous insights we've come to expect from the brand and applies them to the current situation we find ourselves in, as we come out of an enforced hibernation. 

The campaign goes through the three main stages of quarantine: the initial unknown phase, the awkward phase and, finally, the challenge of re-emergence into normal life. 

The spot was directed by Pensacola through CANADA London and the extraordinary circumstances of life in a pandemic meant the production had to adapt its processes to cope with the lack of sets and the basic tools normally used to create a successful campaign. Through a clever combination of shooting and production techniques, such as remote self-shooting using self-installed green screens, the use of existing footage and CGI, Smell Ready is a fantastic example of what can be achieved in abnormal circumstances and under extreme pressures.

“AXE is an iconic brand that has a long history of great communications," said Jose Miguel Sokoloff, MullenLowe Group UK’s Chief Creative Officer. "The post-
Covid 'new-normal' and how we are learning to adjust to it presented an incredible opportunity for the brand, and timing was of the essence. I am incredibly proud of how this very tight client-agency team seized the moment, created, approved and produced this global campaign in the most bizarre of circumstances. AXE is back.”